Send your documents

Deadline for posting your documents or attending your appointment

You must apply online before midnight on the day your immigration permission expires.

If you have selected the standard service, you then have a further 15 working days to post your documents to the Home Office. If you are posting your supporting documents via Royal Mail, you must post them on or before the 15th working day after you submitted your online immigration application. If you are using a private courier company, they must deliver your supporting documents to the Home Office on or before the 15th working day after you submitted your online immigration application.

If you are using the priority service, your documents must be delivered to the Home Office within two days. It does not matter if you use Royal Mail or a private courier company.

Warning: if you use the Tier 4 Student online application form and you need to show funds, you must have held your funds for the 28 days before you submit and pay for your application online. See the section of this advice guide “How much money do I need to show?” for more information.

Applying inside the UK with delayed or missing documents?

You must meet the immigration requirements on the date that you make your online Tier 4 application.

If you are making a Standard (by post) application in the UK, you have a further 15 working days to post your supporting documents to the Home Office,

If you are making a Priority (by post) application in the UK, you have 2 days for your supporting documents to reach the Home Office.

If you are making a Premium (in person) application, you must bring your supporting documents to your appointment at a Premium Customer Service centre, which must be within 45 business days.

While you are not required to be in possession of all your supporting documents on the date you make your online application, you must be sure that you will be able to obtain all of the required documents within the 2 days or 15 or 45 business days deadline, and that those documents will demonstrate that you met the requirements on the date of your online application. For example, you might obtain your bank statements after the date of your online application, but the statements must show that you had held the required funds for 28 consecutive days before the date you submitted your online application.

There is no official way to submit late documents after the 2 days, 15 working days or 45 business days deadline. Your Tier 4 application should be fully complete with all supporting documents submitted within the deadline.

If you know that you will not be able to obtain some documents within the deadline, demonstrating that you met the Tier 4 requirements on the date of your online application, we advise you not to apply. This may mean you need to leave the UK before your current immigration permission expires. Once you can meet the requirements for a Tier 4 application, you can apply at home, without overstaying your immigration permission in the UK. You will need to consider:

The expense of travelling home; and

The time this process will take and how that may affect your studies. You will need to discuss this with your academic school and check that they agree to you leaving the UK for the required amount of time. If they don’t, you will need to consider interrupting your studies.

If you have already applied, and you later realise you cannot provide the required documents within the 15 or 45 day deadline, contact the Advice and Counselling Service as soon as possible to discuss your options. If the deadline for submitting your documents has already lapsed, your options will be extremely limited.

Disclaimer:Law, regulations and policies can change quickly. The information on our website is given in good faith and has been carefully checked but QMUL cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. QMUL is not responsible for the content or reliability of the linked websites which are provided for further information.